Mayor Sue Bauman officially launched the Madison Study Circles program coordinator position Tuesday, appointing the program’s first leader.

Heidi Rudd, a former member of the Study Circles Steering Committee, will take over the new position. In cooperation with the Study Circles Steering Committee, the program coordinator implements the strategic plan designed to promote positive race relations in the greater Madison community.

Study circles, which exist across the country, focus on specific topics ranging from education to land use to neighborhood improvement.

In Madison, the study circle is made up of highly participatory small-group discussions that focus on ways to undo racism and improve race relations in the community.

Rudd said the city’s study circle consists of two main components: discussion and action.

“[Study circles] are not just talk; we talk about [race] and look at it from all different perspectives,” Rudd said. “We’re learning from each other.”

Rudd said the action component is where actual change in the community takes place.

“The group wants to do something to make a change,” Rudd said. “Soon, change moves from dialogue into action, whether it’s by the group or an individual.”

Madison’s study circle stemmed from the Race Relations Task Force, introduced in 1998. In her original charge to the Task Force, Bauman focused on actual problems in the community.

“There are real and perceived problems of actions by public and private individuals which are seen to be racially motivated,” Bauman said.

“We must find ways to establish an ongoing dialogue among all parts of our community. We must seek to understand what is happening and why it is happening. We cannot afford to point fingers or find blame. We must work together to find ways to ensure that all are heard, that all feel comfortable speaking up, and that we, as a city government, are open and accessible to all in the city.”

In its final report, the Task Force described study circles as “comfortable, safe settings to encourage people to explore public issues without having to defend particular positions. Because agreement is not the objective of the discussions, people are free to engage in dialogue rather than debate.”

This is what Rudd and the 15 members of the Race Task Force have been working on for the last 18 months, as well as trying to create a strong identity in Madison.

“Now [the Task Force] is trying to work on becoming their own thing, separate from the city,” Rudd said. “It’s trying to be its own entity within the city.”

Rudd said she was impressed with study circle programs in other cities she encountered at an October national conference in Washington, D.C.

“Cities all over the states are doing this, have structure, processes in place and the community is involved,” Rudd said. “I’m recharged from coming back from D.C.”

The Steering Committee’s primary responsibility is to address those activities necessary to support and sustain study circles on a community-wide scale.

The committee is responsible for the overall leadership, guidance and coordination of the study circles program, but responsibility for running individual study circles will be distributed across a network of organizational sponsors. The committee helps to attract and recruit potential study circle sponsors and participants.